Park Place project gaining steam

Construction on the first of several buildings in the Park Place development is under way at the rear of the project along Route 19 and Racetrack Road in North Strabane Township.
Order a Print

Advertisement

Park Place has been a hopping place in recent months.

Construction of the first of two phases has gone swimmingly – and rapidly – at Park Place at the Meadowlands.

“Things are going well,” said David Biafora of Metro Property Management, developer of the project straddling the North Strabane-South Strabane township line. The 44-acre, mixed-use development is east of Route 19, near Racetrack Road, and mostly in North Strabane.

Metro Property Management, owned by Biafora’s family, is based in Morgantown, W.Va., as is the appropriately named Accelerated Construction Services, which is doing construction of the entire project.

Structural steel and roofs are up for one of two buildings that will comprise Phase I of the project, which will cover 14 acres. A bridge built around and over a creek and retaining walls were completed there months ago, during colder weather.

That creek separates the Strabanes. Only one or two Park Place lots are in South Strabane.

The building going up first will be two stories with 40,000 square feet of retail and restaurant space. It will include a Dairy Queen Grill & Chill restaurant, Little Caesars Pizza, Gloria Jean’s Coffees, a Chinese food takeout spot, an Asian restaurant and several boutiques.

“We expect to open that building in August or September,” Biafora said. “The second will be late in the year.”

Ground will be broken soon for that second building, Biafora said. It will offer 20,000 square feet and feature a child development center and office suites. A gasoline station also will be part of that phase.

He said the second phase “is in the permitting stages,” but he hopes Accelerated will be “moving earth within 60 days.” A car dealership, hotel, business center and 240-unit apartment complex are planned there.

The units, Biafora said, will have one, two or three bedrooms, and range in size from 600 to 1,500 square feet. Some will have finer finishes, a one-car garage and/or a fireplace; some will not.

Depending on the units, rents will run from $800 or $900 to $1,400. Biafora said because Metro will build and manage the apartments, the company will price them less than some other competitors.

The Park Place project is projected to cost $25 million to $30 million.